Gasquet wins Mumbai Open singles

The Indo-Pak combine of Bopanna and Qureshi go down in straight sets to Niemenen and Lindstedt in the doubles final.

The Indo-Pak combine of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi went down in straight sets 6-7 6-7 to the third-seeded pair of Jarkko Niemenen (Finland) and Robert Lindstedt (Sweden) in the doubles final of the USD 416,000 Kingfisher Airlines Mumbai Tennis Open in Mumbai on Sunday.

The unseeded South Asian duo, the number one singles players in their respective nations, lost the opening set going down 3-7 in the tie-breaker.

Bopanna, ranked 85th in doubles and his partner Qureshi (ranked 124th), traded breaks early in the second set with their Scandinavian rivals, ranked 56th and 57th in doubles, before this set too was decided in the tie-break which the Indo-Pak duo lost 5-7 after they fought back from 3-5.

The winning pair received USD 20,250 and 175 points while the runners-up got 11,550 and 120 points.

Earlier, 21-year-old top seed Richard Gasquet of France, the world no 14, outclassed eighth seed Olivier Rochus of Belgium, ranked 66, 6-3 6-4 in an hour and 25 minutes to clinch the singles title, his first of the year and fifth overall, pocketing USD 65,850 and 175 points.

The 26-year-old Rochus, trying for his third career title, won USD 35,500 and 120 points.